Now that you mention it, how is best to call a winner if you need to stop playing before the CoC is reached?

The rulebook suggests adding up each character's Strength, Craft, gold, Followers, etc. and see who has the highest total. See page 21 under "Sudden Death", second paragraph.

wastedyuthe said:

If you know that you don't have too much time before you are beginning to play the game, then you can bring the trophy points from 7 to 5

Thanks Katana One.

That's a good idea Velhart. That could also apply to experience points in the 3rd edition too.

wastedyuthe said:

Yeah, that is possible, but the difference with experience points is that you can decide for your own if you want a strength or craft..

But off course, if you limit it also to 5 experience points, then the 3th edition will play also faster..

Yes I may use that house rule next time. I have just played a 4 player game with the 3rd edition and loved every minute of it. We were all having PvP's this time, and I decided to make some very nasty decisions with regard to the other players. It worked, and I won- YAY!! However, one of the players is my 6 year old daughter, who despite having to have most of the cards read for her, can play it very competently. However, she did get bored after an hour and a half, and so left the game. If we reduce the experience needed from 7 to 5, it may help.

It was almost end game time and one of our players was making a break for the crown. I used some table talk and had another player land the reaper on me in hopes i could roll the choice that sends the reaper after a player of your choice. First roll was a 6 so i fate rerolled to try and get the other option and rolled a 1 and died. The room sure got a real charge out of that reaper action

Msrushing said:

That's a heavy toll you have paid..(with fate)

So you risk your live, to send the reaper to a other player,, but you paid a fate for your own death

I like the Reaper but only with the added rule that players who land on the Reaper are forced to roll against him. What this does, essentially, is create a road block. ex. If a player is 4 spaces away from the Reaper and rolls a 4, then he is either forced to go the opposite direction, or take his chances with the Reaper. Almost no player will ever choose to move into the Reaper's space. So the smart player can use the Reaper strategically to guard a space (such as a space that contains a valuable item) or scare away other players. It also forces players to move into the spaces they would otherwise avoid, like the Black Knight, the Deserts, Crags and the Glade.

However, most of my games have been with 2 or 3 players, and the Reaper makes the board more dynamic. If you play with 4+ players, I can see how the Reaper would slow down the game.

An alternative mechanic that might spice up the Reaper for large groups is if everyone takes a turn moving the Reaper on consecutive turns. Here's how I'd do it: the last player to move gets the Reaper card at the start of the game. When he completes his move, he gets to move the Reaper. After he moves the Reaper, he passes the Reaper card to the person sitting counter-clockwise (opposite the dice), and then that player gets to move the Reaper on his turn. And so on. This rule only works for big groups though. With a small group, the Reaper would move too frequently, and he'd probably just go back and forth on the same few spaces.

Talisman's biggest weakness is the lack of strategy and the reliance on random die rolls. Generally, I like simple rules that makes the game more strategic. If you use my suggestions for the Reaper, it lends some much needed strategy to the game.

Lars Gnomish said:

Hi again Lars. I like the idea of landing on the Reaper causing you to roll too. I was surprised to not find that rule in the expansion set already to be honest. It makes sense that if you land on him, you have to deal with him. As you say, it brings its own strategy to the game then, allowing you to potentially guard an object that you yourself can't collect but someone else can, because of alignment for example. I have the Reaper, but haven't played him yet, as I am still getting used to the basic rules before adding anything new. What does everyone else think of the rule? Has anyone else tried it?

wastedyuthe said:

If you want to make the reaper more active, then make a rule so he is also activated if you roll a 2 !

We play with 2 players, and it's always different with the reaper. ( sometimes he is very active and sometimes not..

You can better stay away from him before it is too late..

Before you know it... the reaper will come to you and says...( it's time to die...( one ticket to hell)

Today I played one of the longest and bloodiest games ever.

4-player game, 6 hours long, 5 midgame deaths, 8 total corpses. A single game featured: Ghoul, Philosopher, Monk, Dwarf as starting Characters, then Ghoul was killed by Monk, replaced by Assassin that died in Dungeon and was replaced by Wizard (winner); Philosopher died in Dungeon and was replaced by Minstrel, Reaper killed Minstrel that was replaced by the Knight, who died on the Crown against the Wizard, despite of an impressive Strenght of 25 (+ Mercenary if needed). Monk was the leading Character in the first part but was killed by the Reaper (double 1), replaced by Gypsy that suffered very much from other player and further Reaper harassment (Reaper killed Followers, took Lives, made people lose Turns). Dwarf was the only Character to survive throughout this carnage, but never developed enough to keep the pace of the others, mostly because of Reaper.

Even though the Wizard won the game with a significant edge (Runesword granted him about 11 Lives when he reached the Crown), the real winner has been the Reaper. She killed the Monk who ought to be the winner because everything was going really well for him (of course I was playing the Monk); she was active like never before and slowed down the Dwarf very much. A roll of 5-6 was very, very rare on the Reaper table and the result was impressive. The Wizard won for a simple reason: he didn't care for the Reaper even if he had no Fate. Reaper never landed on him. Other people were scared by the Reaper and were constantly targeted by her, and were happy if they only had to lose a Turn playing chess.

Funny, Reaper made me lose another game but I loved the tension and chaos it created today.

The Reaper is brilliant for adding player interaction. Not only can you affect players too far way to encounter, but people tend to stay away from The Reaper (especially when low on fate), increasing the odds that characters will be near enough to land on each other.

So without ever even landing on anybody, the mere threat of The Reaper makes Talisman more interactive. Credits to FFG and John Goodenough!

The_Warlock said:

Haha! Sounds great, although 6 hours seems a little tiring. It sounds like the Reaper actually gives weaker characters a better chance, which is a good thing.

You should roll one extra dice just for the grim reaper. If you roll a five or better you are able to move him.

wastedyuthe said:

Well, play last for 5 hours and was way too long, but I know what happens if I can't try to win earlier. My friends just sit down and keep on drawing, drawing, drawing till they reach outrageous stats and are absolutely sure to win. At least one of them.

Reaper brings chaos and hazard, not balance. Wizard is not a weak Character and he won because he was doomed to by his player's luck. The same player started very bad losing two Characters in no time (but he never does well if he draws Characters he doesn't like... he's not a flexible player), but his third Character turned into the winner. But he wandered for a lot of Turns with no Fate to spend and Reaper never got him; that's once more the core of Talisman: luck! If you are so unlucky to roll 1 twice in a row, you have to die. If Reaper doesn't catch you even if you are imprudent, that's it, you're the winner. Reaper doesn't give chances to anyone but lucky players, and that's exactly what Talisman is all about.